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NAMM19 – Ed Sheeran launches own guitar brand

Globally-acclaimed singer-songwriter hits the world with a surprise

Award-winning musician Ed Sheeran and highly respected luthier George Lowden came together with guests at a private event yesterday at NAMM 2019 to present a new range of guitars with the Sheeran name on. The brand is called “Sheeran by Lowden” and aims to make quality guitars in Ireland with great features, playability and tone at accessible prices.

“There are fewer guitar bands and fewer artists using guitars these days, and not as many kids picking up guitars to create music”, says Sheeran. “I would like to change that and inspire young people to pick up a guitar, learn and progress.”

The partnership between Lowden Guitars and Ed Sheeran is a natural progression from the existing friendship and vision shared by both parties. One of Lowden’s most popular guitars, the Wee Lowden, was designed in 2013 by George Lowden at the request of Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody as a gift for Sheeran. Following receipt of his Wee Lowden, Sheeran has built a personal collection of Lowden guitars which appear on stage with him often, including Lowden’s electric guitar, the GL-10.

Two different series of guitars in the Sheeran lineup

At launch, the Sheeran by Lowden acoustic guitar range features eight individual models across two small body sizes familiar from the Lowden range, known as the S and the Wee Lowden, both played by Ed himself. The guitars have been designed by George Lowden for the player, with a careful choice of sustainably-sourced wood species including naturally fallen trees and reclaimed Spruce, for uncompromising tone and playability.

To ensure that the Sheeran by Lowden brand continues to deliver Lowden’s high-quality craftsmanship with an approachable and accessible ethos, George Lowden developed new production methodologies featuring aerospace engineering to create custom tooling required for these innovative methods. To accommodate the company’s continued growth, Lowden Guitars has also opened a new bespoke production facility based in County Down, Northern Ireland.

“Working with our aerospace engineers has enabled us to dream up new ways of making a guitar very efficiently, using high-tech processes that are normally used in making aeroplanes,” explained George Lowden. “We also incorporate our traditional methods including voicing all the struts by hand using Japanese hand chisels as we want the guitars to really speak to the player.”

Sheeran Guitars by Lowden, will be available to order through select music merchants. To find a dealer near you visit www.sheeranguitars.com. At this point there is no info about pricing, but I’ll update that as soon as Sheeran releases them.

Lowden Guitars will exhibit their latest models including the newly-launched range of Sheeran by Lowden guitars on stands 1813 and 1913, Hall E, at this year’s NAMM show at the Anaheim Convention Centre, from 24th – 27th January 2019.